


Won’t Look Back

by kontraklarinette



Series: Time’s Blight [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Future Fic, Time Travel, can you tell i kin luz, don’t worry the ocs will go away after chapter 1 i just need them to be plot devices, duh - Freeform, eventually, sequel to Rectification and A Whisper Away
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29340993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kontraklarinette/pseuds/kontraklarinette
Summary: Under new rulers, the Boiling Isles have enjoyed over a year of freedom and prosperity. Empresses Luz and Amity have kept their promise to restore their home to its former glory- and things couldn’t be going better.But new power is sometimes dangerous, and soon Amity is sucked into a dark conspiracy that threatens everything she’s worked for. Meanwhile, the voices in Luz’s head are growing louder, and as her worries build up, her empire begins to fall.They’ve conquered the demons of their past, and the shadows of their present- but what remains for their future?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: Time’s Blight [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023397
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	1. Prologue/Hazy Maze Basement

**Author's Note:**

> and so it begins!!! welcome to the final installment of my weird time travel trilogy, i can’t believe i’ve made it all the way here :D
> 
> i was going to wait about a month or so to start working on this but then i got a really great (and by great i mean literally the best i’ve ever gotten) comment from user onewaytrigger and i was inspired to start early :D and i figured it’d be fitting to post the chapter where it’s luz’s birthday on my birthday eve lol
> 
> so i’d like to take a moment to officially dedicate the final work of the series to them- i’m so glad the series means so much to you, and i wish you a speedy recovery so that you can go back to bouncing off the walls whenever amity does something dumb :)
> 
> enjoy guys ily all

As soon as the floor closed above them, Whisper lit a crystal ball and held it gingerly in their hands. They were trapped now with the silence they’d created. The light wasn’t very bright, but it still illuminated everything it needed to, and Whisper felt a smile cross their face. At last, the laboratory was complete, and creation could begin.

The past four years of their life had been leading up to this moment. Long, white tables lined the room, littered with machines and glyphs and beakers and flasks. In the center sat a huge vat- one that was almost as tall as Whisper themself. The whole place didn’t look like much more than a seventh-grade science lab, but perhaps there wasn’t really all that much more to it than that. This was seventh-grade science… just on a slightly larger scale, and with a potential to change the universe.

Well, probably. There were too many visions, too many paths to trace… it was hard to tell exactly what was going to happen tonight. Whisper had felt blind for days without their foresight. The more the plan began to resemble an actual plan, the fewer futures they could see. It’d never worked like this before, so why now?

The only vision that had come to them consistently was the recurring nightmare that struck them as they drifted to sleep every night. Two girls stood in front of them- one with dark skin and eyes, and a pale one with a scar on her cheek. Sparks of fear lit their gazes. Their names were Luz and Amity, and Whisper knew them very well. In every vision, Whisper would utter one last sentence to them- though the exact words were indistinguishable- and then they’d hear a sickening snap, and everything would go dark.

For a while, Whisper had hoped that they were just dreams. 

But, being that they were the only witch ever documented with such a strong ability to see the future, they highly doubted it.

Foreseeing one’s death nearly every day has the tendency to wear a person out. Maybe that’s what had driven Whisper to conduct this experiment. Maybe their mind wasn’t what it used to be.

But then again, if this all went correctly… the Boiling Isles could have a tool that would assist its seers with their visions and minimize the trauma that came with them.

And if not… Whisper shut their eyes and scanned the threads of the future. They were still very blurry. Was that a… a giant demon rampaging through Bonesborough? Oh, well. It probably had nothing to do with the experiment. Demons rampaged around the Isles all the time. 

Whisper stopped at one table. They’d already prepped the bowls of ingredients needed to create the stylized abomination goo. The hardest part had been sneaking them down to the secret room underneath the Glandus gym, but it’s not like anyone _knew_ that this room was here besides them. Once everything was set up, they’d let themself breathe a sigh of relief. 

And now the creation could begin. 

They combined the ingredients and glyphs skillfully, taking a moment to reflect on how much easier this would have been in two hundred years when witches began to be biologically wired for magic. Once the big vat in the center of the room had been brought to a boil, they tossed their illusion-enhanced abomination goo and oracle-enhanced plants into it. It all swirled together to create a deep inky black substance. Whisper frowned. It was _supposed_ to be indigo. Oh, well, maybe it actually was indigo, and the low light in the room just didn’t bring out its true colors. 

The process was a lot simpler than they’d expected it to be.

Once the goo was settled at the correct consistency, they cleared their throat. “Abomination, rise,” they commanded.

The goo didn’t budge.

Maybe the combining of magic had rendered this creation unable to respond to Abomination-specific commands. “Rise,” Whisper tried again.

Nothing.

A burst of frustration blooming in their chest, the witch delivered a swift kick to the cauldron. It rocked slightly, and a drop of black goo lurched out and landed at their feet.

For a moment, all they could hear was a quiet sizzle as the goo hit the tiled floor.

Then the drop expanded. It squirmed and wriggled until it formed itself into a rippling figure twice the height of Whisper. It was indistinct at first, but as more and more features formed, Whisper realized that this was a witch they’d seen in many of their darkest visions of the future.

The horned mask and soulless eyes were unmistakable.

Fear lurched in Whisper’s stomach.

Then, like a hurricane, visions bombarded their mind like fireballs, each bringing a fresh burst of pain with it. The Boiling Isles, in shambles and flame, save for one stone building in the Titan’s chest. The masked figure, slashing Whisper’s throat with a sharp-edged staff. A girl with mint hair, watching a swirling portal close in front of her, her lips parted in a desperate cry. A great tree with pink blossoms being felled, shaking the entire forest floor. A roaring, feathered gray demon.

And the monster- the monster _Whisper_ had created- feeding off the fears of every witch it came in contact with, turning the entire world into a living nightmare.

All the while, they could do nothing but stand by and watch the future unfold.

This was what they were most afraid of. Watching visions flit by, but being unable to move the future off its dark path- and dooming all the witches they cared about in the process.

The pictures faded as quickly as they had appeared, leaving Whisper breathless, staring as the creature- no, the _demon-_ looked down at them with malignant blue eyes.

_What have I done?_

~

“Being down here is like going back in time all over again.”

Luz shuddered. “Please, not that again. I like the present very much.”

Amity chuckled, making a blush spread across Luz’s face. Luz was glad it was pitch-dark down here. She’d be embarrassed if Amity knew just how adorable her laugh was- and how flustered hearing it made her feel.

(Of course, it’d still be superior to being around Cursed Amity. _That_ had been an absolute nightmare and a half.)

“If we can find Sky, and she tells us about her time spell, I promise I won’t use it. I just want to study it.” 

As they descended deeper into the tunnel, Luz lit a ball of light, and Amity murmured her thanks. 

“You can do literally any kind of magic that’s ever existed now,” Luz teased, “and you still want me to make you little light orbs whenever it’s dark. That’s so cute!”

“Shut up!” Amity laughed, but her tone was playful. “It reminds me of when we were kids. It was the first spell you ever learned-”

“Which time I learned it? The first one or the second one?”

“Both, silly. It just reminds me of that. Things were very simple back then.”

“Yes,” Luz agreed, “it was a lot easier when we were kids, y’know, when we fought Grom like a bajillion times, and almost died when Hexside lit on fire, and we almost got petrified, and other things that I cannot remember because it has been a very long time. Now all we do is sit around our mansion and give people orders and have all the magic on the whole Isles in our hands. Yeah. Being a kid was way easier.”

“You know what I mean,” Amity said, nudging Luz in the side. Luz nudged her back and found her hand in the dark, lacing their fingers together. 

She sighed. “Oh, the simple joys of youth. How I miss them. My old bones can’t take this much longer.”

“Love, you’re immortal.”

“Ah, yes.” She smiled wryly, her insides fluttering. “But I have now entered my second decade. Already I can feel the years catching up with me.”

Amity paused. “You don’t actually mean that, right?”

“Of course not. I’m still good as new. I don’t think this Empress’ immortality thing is going away anytime soon.”

Exhaling, Amity squeezed her hand. “Good. I know you’re joking…”

“Sorry,” Luz quipped, “but you’re stuck with me forever.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Hey, I think we’re here.” Luz gave Amity’s arm a gentle tug to signal her to stop. She held her orb up to a dusty stone statue. A plaque on the pedestal read _Sky Aurora,_ and her heart leapt in her throat. Amity’s careful navigation skills, and their weeks of planning, had led them to the exact spot they needed to be.

She lifted the orb closer to the statue’s face. The stone witch’s fangs were bared in a defiant, bloodcurdling snarl, and her cloak billowed around her. She didn’t look any older than Luz, perhaps even younger. One of her arms was extended, swiping at the air in a final show of strength before the stone had consumed her forever. 

_No,_ Luz corrected. _Not forever._

“You have the glyph?” Amity whispered. 

She nodded. She fished in the pocket of her cloak and drew out the small slip of paper. She held her breath as she placed it onto the pedestal and activated it, waiting for bated breath for the stone to begin melting.

Luz had found this glyph over a year ago, after the Silent Trial, inscribed onto Whisper’s sword. She hadn’t known what it was for at first, but when she remembered that placing the sword on Whisper’s statue had brought them out of their stone prison. Since then, they’d used the glyphs to free all the witches that had been petrified under Belos’ rule, and now Sky, the creator of the third time spell, would finally be brought back.

The stone fell away like it was merely paint being washed away by the rain. Sky shuddered, drawing herself to her full height and blinking open her sapphire blue eyes, letting them fall on Luz and Amity. Franticity lit her gaze. “Where is Belos?” she spat. “I’m going to kill him! He can’t get away with petrifying me!” She tensed her muscles, readying herself to leap from the pedestal.  
“I have good news,” Amity announced before Sky could move. “He’s already dead.”  
“She’s right.” Luz dipped her head respectfully to the old time witch. “My name is Luz, and this is Amity. We’re the Empresses of the Boiling Isles now. You don’t have to worry about Belos anymore- we defeated him in the Silent Trial.”

Sky slid off the pedestal, boots hitting the cold, hard floor with a thump. “Empress...es?” She made her way to Luz, narrowing her eyes and studying her closely. “Are you a _human?”_

Luz swallowed nervously, taking a step back. “Yes.”

Sky exhaled. “I am very, very confused.” She looked back at Amity “Belos is dead? And you killed him?”

Amity nodded. “With your mentor’s sword.”

A shadow crossed her face. “How long has it been?” she asked quietly. “Before I was petrified, I don’t think there was a single witch on the Isles who could have taken him out.”  
Luz exchanged a look with the other Empress, and she bit her lip. How could she tell this poor disoriented witch that generations had passed since she’d last seen the light of day? Amity shook her head, though. They couldn’t keep the truth away in good conscience. “...Fifty years, give or take,” she managed to say.

Sky looked like she was about to pass out.

m“But don’t worry,” she added hurriedly, before Sky could begin to panic. “Things are a lot better now than they were before you were petrified. We’ve been bringing every petrified witch back and helping them readjust to being gone for so long. And we abolished the Coven system- at least, the worst parts of it. Covens still exist, but nobody’s magic gets sealed away when they join one anymore. We want every witch to live up to their full potential.”

“Wait.” Amity, who’d been watching Sky in a thoughtful silence as Luz delivered her explanation, spoke up. She addressed the young Time Witch. “Something doesn’t add up here. Your mentor was Whisper, but they lived over six hundred years ago, before we even began to evolve with bile sacs. You were petrified fifty years ago. What’s up with that? How are you still alive?”

She didn’t answer right away, instead taking a moment to analyze Amity’s words. “Stop stop stop stop,” she interrupted. “Whisper lived? Like, _lived?_ Past tense?”

Luz winced. Would the stream of tragic news to deliver this poor girl ever end? Fortunately, Amity saved her the trouble of having to explain that, too.

“Whisper died. Belos killed them.” At least Amity got right to the point, Luz thought. “If they hadn’t died, Belos might have gotten us instead. And then we’d probably be trapped under his rule forever, which would be infinitely worse.”

“I guess so.” Sky paled, and she sat back down on her pedestal. Maybe she was willing herself to transform back into stone, bringing her into a blissful darkness, falling asleep in a world where her beloved mentor hadn’t been brutally murdered by the former dictator of the Isles.

“Hey, it'll be okay. I bet you’ll really like it here once we get outside. But, uh… yeah, tell us about how you got here. Time magic, right?” asked Luz.

“I’m surprised Whisper never told me about you,” Sky admitted, shrugging. She seemed shrunken into herself at the news, but at least she was willing to still talk to the two Empresses. “They must have seen you frequently in their visions, but they never mentioned a Luz or an Amity. Or anything about Empresses at all, for that matter.”

“They created the Tracing spell to help me save Amity from a curse.”

“I remember their Tracing spell. I thought it was so cool that I decided to mess around with time magic myself. I thought, well, if I’m lucky enough to be the time traveler’s protege, I might as well actually be able to time travel too, right? But I didn’t want to just use any of their old spells. Right after Whisper created the Tracing spell, some other guy came out with one called Rectification. They both wanted to see the past. But me? I wanted to see the _future.”_ As Luz had hoped, Sky’s complexion brightened as she spoke excitedly about her research. And this was all information Luz knew Amity would want to hear. For the Titan’s sake, she had a whole room in the mansion she’d dedicated to studying existing time spells and possibly even finding a way to improve them. A spell concerning the future would be a huge breakthrough for her. “So I came up with the Possibility spell, completely by chance, when I was seventeen… which I guess I still am. I don’t feel any older than that.” She flexed each limb in turn, just to check. “I’ll show you how the spell works when we can get somewhere I can actually see.” 

“So you used the spell to get here?”

“I was stupid and I activated it by accident. Next thing I knew, I was trapped six hundred years in the future.” She laughed half-heartedly. “So I guess waking up after fifty years really isn’t that big of a deal, is it? 

“Anyway, when I arrived in the future, I found a note from Whisper explaining that they were still alive. I started searching for the Rectification spell so I could get back, but you can both guess what happened before I could find it.”

“Belos captured you,” Luz and Amity said simultaneously.

Sky nodded. “I had no idea what was going on! One second I’m being turned into stone- not fun, by the way, be glad it’s never happened to you- and the next, I’m in a smelly basement, being brought back to life by the Empresses of the Boiling Isles. Go figure. It’s been a crazy seventeen years.”

Deciding that they’d dragged enough information out of her for the time being, Luz turned to Amity. “Let’s get back upstairs,” she suggested. “We need to get her acquainted with everyone else. It’ll do her good.”

She started down the hallway, letting Sky and Amity tag along behind her. Sky seemed to disappear into her own mind after a while, murmuring and tracing the wall with her hand as she walked, so Amity took the chance to sidle up next to Luz.

“This has all been a very productive day and all,” she said under her breath, “but you haven’t forgotten that it’s also your birthday, right?”

Luz scoffed, forcing an awkward, strained laugh. “Of course I hadn’t forgotten!” Naturally, the thought had slipped her mind. Being Empress required her to think a lot, and that did not include thinking about suddenly being twenty after having been fourteen for six years.

Amity interlocked their arms. “Whatever you say, love. Either way, Willow and Gus planned a really nice dinner for us in the courtyard tonight. And I’d…” She hesitated, and Luz detected a note of strain in the way she hunched over slightly. “I’d like to talk to you about something tonight, too.”

“Oh.” There was a slight burst of fear in Luz’s chest, and then it was gone. She banished the doubt from her mind. Whatever Amity wanted to talk about couldn’t be urgent. Amity loved her… they weren’t facing any problems at all.

Not any that she knew of, anyway.

 _Oh, no._ Now terror was pushing against her from every side, and she found herself fighting dizziness. Did Amity think she was a bad Empress? Did she think she was a bad _girlfriend?_ Was Amity going to leave her and make her be Empress all by herself?

 _Amity would never do that,_ she scolded herself. _She loves you. She tells you all the time._

_But what if none of that was true?_

Amity didn’t elaborate further, and as they climbed towards the light at the end of the tunnel, Luz found herself wondering if they’d somehow gone all the way back to square one.


	2. The Paranoid and the Proposing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM STILL WRITING THIS I PROMISE 🤠 i just got distracted... do you ever meet someone and realize oh my god we were literally meant to meet and then you spend a week straight (or not in our case) talking to them bc they’re so amazing and you forget you’re a writer for a little while bc your life is suddenly happier than your fanfics
> 
> PERSONAL RANT OVER HERES THE CHAPTER SORRY ITS SHORT!! TY FOR READING THO LOL

Amity’s insides had been writhing with nervousness all day, but now that she was actually sitting down with Luz for dinner, her butterflies started to flap like they’d never flapped before. She envied Luz’s obliviousness. Her girlfriend was seated across from her, on the other side of the table, picking at her napkin. Now that Amity stopped to look, she thought Luz looked a little  _ too  _ oblivious. In fact, she looked almost… scared. “Luz, are you alright?”

Luz jerked her head up, nearly knocking her glass over in the process. “Oh! Yes! Of course!” She gave Amity a wide, forced smile, just to hammer the point home. “Why wouldn’t I be? It’s my birthday… and I’m with you… what could be better?”

“Nothing, in my opinion,” Amity replied lightly. 

The fear in Luz’s eyes eased slightly. She shifted in her seat. “I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed,” she confessed. “With everything, I mean. Restoring the Isles isn’t easy. And I’m always scared I’m going to mess up. What if…” She trailed off, leaving Amity to fill in the gaps herself.

_ What if I’m not good enough? _

She knew that Luz had always struggled with her sense of self-worth. Years of loneliness in the human realm had been ingrained deeply in her mind, instilling within her a permanent shadow of inadequacy. Over the past six years, she’d only just begun to heal. Amity tried her best to help her, but there was only so much she could do.

She could only begin to imagine what it must be like for her- to be isolated and unimportant for such a long time, and suddenly being given the responsibility of a small country at the age of eighteen. Jarring, for sure. Difficult, too- her heart ached just thinking about it. At least she was here to carry some of her girlfriend’s burden.

“Hey.” She nudged Luz’s foot with her own underneath the table, and Luz cracked a small smile. “Don’t even think about that. There’s no other human than you out there suited to rule the Isles.”

“Maybe another witch.”

“Nonsense. And even if there was, I certainly would not be able to tolerate them.”

Embarrassed, Luz ducked her head. “Yeah?”

“I love  _ you,  _ Luz. Don’t ever forget that.”

Luz’s cheeks turned a soft, distinct shade of pink. “Alright.”

The moment was interrupted by the clattering of dishes, and Emira appeared at the side of the table, two huge plates propped up on her arms. “Good evening, lovebirds!” she sang. She set the plates down on the center of the table and turned to bow deeply to Luz. “And especially you, Birthday Empress. May it be filled with the most exquisite blessings fit for the most exquisite ruler.” She winked over her shoulder at Amity. “And I know Amity’s got big dinner plans, dont’cha, baby sis?”

Luz giggled. “Em, stop.”

“I told you Luz and I would come inside and get that stuff ourselves,” Amity said, exasperated. “You know I don’t like-”

“Getting favors,” Emira finished. “Ever the generous. Blah, blah, blah. I know. But face it, Mittens. You’re the royalest of the royal now. Get used to it. I’ll bring you your food whether you like it or not.”

Amity frowned. “Well, you’re technically a princess, I think.” She wasn’t sure- she surprisingly hadn’t spent much time studying that kind of thing. At least she knew that Emira probably had  _ some  _ sort of fancy title.

“Princess Emira Blight!” She barked a shrill laugh at the premonition. “Yeah, okay, whatever. Enjoy your dinner, you two! And Mittens-” she smiled slyly- “good luck!” She strutted away, probably towards the griffon barn they’d built on the edge of the Blight property a few months ago, where she and Viney spent most of their time together.

Luz picked her head up from where she was resting it on the table. “Good luck? What does she mean?”

“She doesn’t mean  _ anything.” _ Amity was started to regret telling Emira about her plans to propose- she was being frustratingly cheeky about it.

“Alright.” Shrugging, Luz looked down at the table at the food laid out in front of her. Amity expected her to take a bite- it was her favorite dish, signature Boiling Isles mac-n-seas (made with genuine sea demons) but she still looked tense, like she was still too nervous to eat. She was putting up a facade, too. For whatever reason, she didn’t want Amity to know how scared she was. 

“Love, I know something is bothering you. Talk to me, please.”

“What are we doing now that all the petrified witches have been healed?” Luz asked abruptly, avoiding Amity’s question. “Are we going to renovate the castle? I feel like we’ve been putting that off for a long time. It’s been over a year, after all, it’s probably about time…”

“Well, yeah, of course. I just talked to you about that yesterday, didn’t I?” She decided to humor Luz for now. Maybe if she backed off, Luz would open up to her naturally. 

“I’m sorry,” Luz whispered. “I forgot.” She shifted, drawing slightly into herself.

The tiny matching objects Amity had tucked into her pocket might as well have been literally burning a hole through the fabric of her velvet cloak. Maybe tonight  _ wasn’t  _ the best night to propose, not since Luz was all up in some sort of strange funk. “You don’t need to be sorry.”

“Okay.”

Silence fell over them, and they quietly tucked into their dinner. After a moment, Amity couldn't stand it, and she broke it. “After the castle is done, I want to keep working on the time spells. My study is nearly complete. I just need a few more decorations. Research will be easier, too, now that I have Sky to help me.”

“Sky,” Luz repeated. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “Don’t you think that’s a pretty name?”

Amity shrugged. “I guess so.” It’d never struck her as anything particularly special. “Why?”

“No reason.”

“Alright. Well, anyway, my goal is to make time magic accessible to all without making it dangerous or nonrestricted. It’s too powerful to become general knowledge, but perhaps with some alterations, we can begin to offer that kind of knowledge to the more general public. Here’s what I was thinking…” She elaborated for a moment, though she felt Luz was only paying half-attention. Either way, rambling about her discoveries and the potential of her discoveries to come made her nerves about Luz’s defensive demeanor calm slightly. “I want to be able to study the future,” she finished. “I don’t know a whole lot about it. I think it would help us with ruling, don’t you think? If we could see the future like Whisper did, we could keep the whole Isles safe.”

Luz’s gaze darkened. “I think I saw enough future for five immortal lifetimes during the Silent Trial.”

“Honestly, I did too.” Admittedly, it’d taken her a while to open up to Luz about what she’d seen in the Silent Cave’s dark depths. Sometimes the image of her father’s hand and blade at her throat as she was jerked awake from a peaceful slumber at Luz’s side still made its way into her dreams. 

But Whisper had never said what they’d seen had been  _ probable  _ futures. Only  _ possible. _

And with Blight Manor security increased, Amity had faith that she’d be safe at Luz’s side for centuries to come.

If only she could work up the courage to propose.

Appetite suddenly vanishing, she gripped her plate in both hands and stood up. “I’m going to take this back in. I’ll be back out in a minute.”

Luz leapt to her feet at the same time. “Oh, I’m done too!” she trilled, cheerfully,  _ too  _ cheerfully. “I’ll go in with you. Then, I’ll, uh… hey, you wanted to talk to me about something, right? How about I meet you in your study?”

“Sure thing,” Amity replied, trying to push down the fear that blossomed in her chest. “I’ll be there.”

“I just need to… talk to Willow first.”

“What about?”

Luz stammered. “Just… wanted to see how one of her projects was coming along.”

Luz was an awful liar. “Okay. See you then.” Once they’d both deposited their plates in the kitchen, both half-eaten, they swerved into separate hallways, Amity heading to her study in the top turret of the mansion and Luz supposedly towards the greenhouse, which Willow managed and had been able to turn into the most profitable greenhouse in Bonesborough.

After clambering up several flights of stairs, Amity arrived at her destination. When she had lived with her family, this space had been nothing but a reclusive attic, which had been strictly off-limits to her and her siblings. Once Emira had taken over as Head of the Family (which was followed by an incident Amity would give anything to forget) it had been cleaned out, and when Amity had become Empress, she’d spent a decent amount of time turning it into a study dedicated to her fascination with time magic. Without Whisper, she’d have to finesse her own knowledge. Maybe one day, she hoped,  _ she’d _ be known as the Time Witch who changed the world. 

The turret had been built in such a way that allowed for moonlight to slant through the oblong window on one wall and land on the opposite side, where all her charts and diagrams had been laid out. She liked to think she’d already made significant advancements in her research. She’d spent hours exploring the nuances of the Rectification and Tracing spells, and was even on the verge of being able to alter them.

The one spell she hadn’t quite mastered yet, though, was the Possibility spell- the one that Sky had mentioned. 

She silently cursed herself when she remembered that, consumed in nervousness regarding Luz, she’d completely forgotten to ask Sky about the details of the spell.

_ Maybe I can go back to the castle tomorrow… provided everything goes okay with Luz tonight. _

She made her way to her largest bulletin board, which displayed huge sketches of both the known time glyphs, with annotations added on each small shape within the glyph’s circle- speculations on what they might mean. Luz wasn’t here, so maybe she could fit in a moment or two of thinking before her girlfriend arrived. It'd certainly keep her mind off Luz’s odd behavior. 

The Rectification glyph was simple- a plain dot in the middle, with twelve ticks on the outside, overlaid with a swirling pattern. The Tracing spell was quite similar with two mirrored letter Ws replacing the swirls.  _ Probably for Whisper,  _ she realized. That seemed obvious- how had she not noticed it before?

As she scanned both glyphs, a realization came to her. They were both so similar, with the same twelve-ticked pattern, with a different symbol in the middle. She didn’t know anything about the witch who had created the Rectification spell, but judging from Whisper’s glyph, the symbol must have been some reflection of its creator. 

So Sky’s spell… 

She thought back to their brief conversation in the catacombs of the old Emperor’s Palace. It’d been far too dark down there to see anything clearly, but if she strained her memory, she could have sworn that something about Sky’s pedestal had stood out to her… 

She recalled the sight of the relieved young witch stepping down from her stone prison and stretching. Something behind her had glinted. 

Oh, yes. Shot through the pedestal with gold had been a small golden sun symbol- one that hadn’t been on any of the others. Except for one, if she was remembering correctly, one emblazoned with a  _ W _ and buried deep in the skull of the Titan, one whose occupant was long gone.

It was a little bit of a long shot, but Amity supposed that recreating the symbol on a glyph was worth a try. She’d left enough space on her wall for one more, right next to the first two. So, she sketched out the same twelve-ticked symbol as she had twice before, but this time adding Sky’s sun to the middle. Something lifted in her chest when she moved her pen away from the wall.

She stepped back and looked at the glyph she’d drawn. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it, and it looked as plain as the other two. Of course, the other two had still worked.

Not that she was willing to test it. 

Heart pounding, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small object she’d been planning to propose to Luz with. She ran her fingers over it. She had a matching one for her, too, if Luz said yes.  _ Heart, don’t fail me now,  _ she thought plaintively.  _ Courage, don’t desert me…  _

Luz had to be back soon, right?

As if on cue, a knock on the study door alerted Amity, and she yelped. “Ah- just a moment!” she cried, fumbling to shove the object into her pocket. Luz couldn’t see it until she was ready. Until they were  _ both _ ready.

In her fear and fervor, she stumbled, and everything slowed. Her back thumped against her glyph sketches. She scrambled to get away, but she was too late. Her words died in her throat as the telltale light of a time spell enveloped her and sent her tumbling into an unknowable destiny- into an unforeseeable future.

The two golden keys she’d been holding clattered to the ground, and she was gone.


End file.
